Global mobile advertising spend set to reach $24.5 billion in 2016
Worldwide mobile advertising revenue has been forecasted to reach $11.4 billion this year, and grow to $24.5 billion by 2016.
According to research by Gartner, spend in mobile will exceed the $9.6 billion figure seen in 2012, with mobile advertising revenue increasing as new opportunities for app developers, ad networks, agencies, and service and mobile platform providers grow.
High growth economies such as India and China have been predicted to contribute immensely to the growth of mobile advertising in the coming years, while North America and Western Europe ‘close the gap’ on the Asia Pacific region as advertising campaigns become more integrated, Gartner continued to predict.
Different types of mobile advertising such as mobile search which includes paid positioning on maps and augmented reality use, will help the growth of mobile spend, although Gartner also says this will diminish moving towards 2016. It is also predicted that mobile display spend will overtake mobile search after initially remaining in-app and mobile web placements, but that web display will overtake in-app display in 2015.
Commented Stephanie Baghdassarian, research director at Gartner: "The mobile advertising market took off even faster than we expected due to an increased uptake in smartphones and tablets, as well as the merger of consumer behaviors on computers and mobile devices. Growth in mobile advertising comes in part at the expense of print formats, especially local newspapers, which currently face much lower ad yields as a result of mobile publishing initiatives."
Gartner’s research vice president Andrew Frank added that with the growth in adoption of smartphones and tablets worldwide, the market will find a way to deliver easier segmentation and targeting for brands and advertisers.
“Mobile advertising should be integrated into advertisers' overall marketing campaigns in order to connect with their audience in very specific, actionable ways through their smartphones and/or tablets,” he added.
The predicted rate of spend in North America on mobile advertising is predicted to grow from $3,181.5 billion last year to $3,825.7 billion this year, up to £4,694.9 billion next year and by 2016 reach $8,866.2 billion.
Western Europe’s forecast will grow from last year’s figure of £1,600.5 billion to $1,941.4 billion this year and then rise to $2,367.8 billion in 2014. 2016 will see spend in Western Europe increase to $4,445.4 billion it has been predicted.
Asia/Pacific and Japan’s mobile advertising spend is recorded at $4,333.0 billion for last year, while this year it will reach $4,864.9 billion, and then $5,506.7 billion next year, onto $9,480.2 billion in 2016.
The Rest of the World will see a growth from $644.1 billion to 788.0 billion this year, then $960.6 billion in 2014 and $1,768.3 billion in three years’ time.
This would mean a total spend last year of $9,759.1 billion, rising to $11,420.0 billion this year, and next year reaching $12,530.0 before growing to $23,560.1 in 2016.